It is likely that there are already people in our community keeping a close eye on prices who can advise the best time to buy, as well as having established relationships with suppliers which may improve the discounts.

Saturday, 24 September 2011

There are still only five of us writing content for the village website, which means that unless one of us knows about an event, a news story or something of interest to the parish, it does not get added to the site.

It is a simple task to add content because you only need to type the text into a box and click submit for it to appear on the site. Adding photos is also an easy task, so we would like to encourage more people to come forward and contribute. It takes literally 5 minutes to show you what to do so you can add news, events etc from anywhere you can get online, when you choose.

We are increasing the numbers of readers from outside the Parish too by also using Twitter and Facebook to get the word out about Warcop and Sandford, so more content would be great.

I'd like to welcome our new young blogger, Chelsea Venning, who will be writing about the exciting Dream Scheme programme, as well as the many other things that this young Warcopian is involved in for the young people of our County.

Tuesday, 20 September 2011

Upper Eden is seeking to adopt neighbourhood planning policies for the future which are directly relevant to our community and the needs of this area.

There is a consultation document available online on the UECP website and everyone is asked to respond with their views about the proposed policies as soon as possible. These policies affect many aspects of our lives and will help to ensure that Upper Eden has planning policies to fit the actuality of life here and our requirements, now and in the future.

Saturday, 17 September 2011

More than 20 people joined us yesterday to walk around the village and discuss the challenges and benefits of fibre optic broadband in rural areas. The weather just about behaved itself, and now many of the photos and videos from the day are online here http://storify.com/johnpopham/fibre-walk

It was a very successful event, sponsored by ITS Technology, and I hope that over the coming weeks Warcop will be hearing more about what is happening as plans are finalised and formalised. Thanks to John Heron, Richard and Liz Wynn for accompanying the attendees, who came from as far afield as Northumberland, Surrey and Minnesota in the USA. Also a big thanks to Darren at the Chamley Arms for laying on a great spread and offering warm (and dry!) hospitality to everyone after the Walk.

Friday, 9 September 2011

On Friday, 16th September, there is a FibreWalk Colloquium event. This is an informal yet informative walking 'conference', which begins at 1.30pm in Kirkby Stephen. The attendees, which include the American, Donny Smith from Minnesota, who is one of the world's leading rural broadband network builders, will be getting a Cumbria Classic Coaches bus to Warcop to begin a 1 mile walk through the village.

We will be looking at and discussing all the issues surrounding rural broadband, in particular when laying fibre optics through rural villages and countryside. Cumbria has £17.1M (shortly to increase to £23M) to spend on resolving this problem, and Warcop is taking up the challenge to be one of the first parishes to do so.

Villagers are welcome to join us. We know it will be muddy. We know it will probably rain. But we hope that by understanding some of the issues, the parishioners of Warcop will begin to see how this village can achieve the seeming impossible where the telcos are failing, and put in a telecommunications infrastructure fit for the next generations.

Thursday, 8 September 2011

Produce exchange - do you have any surplus produce from your garden? Perhaps a few too many fruit and vegetables for you to consumer by yourself? Or some plants that need thinning out? Other people in the community may benefit from your surplus produce. Bring along to the exchange or advertise at the exchange for people to come and collect.

We have just heard that, through the Upper Eden Community Partnership, we have been awarded £5000 to open a UK Online Outreach Centre in the Parish. This is fantastic news for Warcop and brings with it additional benefits in improving broadband for the whole village.

Work has been ongoing for several months to make this possible and we start this Friday with the route planning for a fast connection to the Cyberbarn. We will be laying a fibre optic cable through the village, which could be used in future to connect Warcop parish homes to much faster and more stable next generation fibre optic broadband. We hope the Cyberbarn will be open and operational within weeks rather than months and that the village will support this unique and exciting project.